The medical industry is constantly evolving through the adaptation of improved pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device products and procedures. Techniques and technologies are constantly being developed to treat internal areas of the body through less invasive means. Catheters, fiberoptic scopes, and miniature devices are being designed to access, image, and treat desired areas.
Recently, devices have been developed to explore and therapeutically impact areas inside the spinal canal. These devices are primarily designed to reduce the amount of pain that chronic pain patients are experiencing due to abnormal conditions existing in and around the spinal cord. Devices currently used to treat these areas include spinal injections of anesthetics and anti-inflammatories, RF and cryo neuroablation, epiduroscopes, spinal stimulation, implantable pumps, and the like.
Snoke, U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,996, issued on Jan. 12, 1999, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this specific reference, discloses a method of epidural surgery that involves distending a portion of an epidural space with a fluid supplied from a catheter in order to facilitate observation of structures within the epidural space. Snoke discloses that the catheter is initially inserted into the sacral foramen and advanced to a desired spinal level. The catheter is then used for supplying a fluid to infuse and distend the epidural space. According to Snoke, a fiberoptic scope is then inserted through the catheter to the distended portion of the epidural space to allow observation thereof.
There continues to be a need for apparatus and methods for imaging and/or treating structures in or near the spinal column.